[Vision2020] Gold Star Logic of Columnist

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (September 9, 2005) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with a special
thanks to Eugene Rosa.

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Gold Star logic of columnist

I lament the fact that I feel too old and already have accumulated enough
degrees to return to college. If things were otherwise I would certainly
enroll in New Saint Andrews College. For in carefully reading the statements
and opinions of those associated with the college for the past several
years, such as the example of Ed Iverson (Opinion, Aug. 27 & 28), head
librarian of the college, I am convinced that NSA has solved puzzles and
conundrums that have plagued Western thought for nearly 25 centuries. 
Iverson's view on Cindy Sheahan is exemplary of this unassailable logic. It
begins with an unsubstantiated premise that also serves as the conclusion,
thereby deftly skirting the "begging the question" fallacy of Western logic.
The argument then truncates the world into "us," the God-fearing Christians,
versus "them," the unwashed secularists, or worse, liberal lefties. Again,
here too, the logic apparently taught at NSA allows one to deftly ignore ad
hominem assertions, the genetic fallacy of Western philosophy in developing
argument. 

Then, of course, there is the obligatory invocation of Biblical truth to
trump empirically confirmed evidence. So, Iverson, despite the availability
of an entire library (not to mention the Internet) at his disposal, seems
unaware of the countless non-Christian societies that have moral codes they
live by nor with the fact there is no society known to scholarship that
reserves moral authority for the individual. 

The dénouement of the NSA style of argument is a thinly veiled smugness that
its logic is so foolproof that no one but the unwashed could not be
convinced of its validity. So, is it any wonder that I lament my
restrictions from enrolling in NSA. I would certainly save time not having
to struggle through the puzzles of many centuries and save considerable
money because of the far fewer books I would need to purchase. 

Eugene Rosa, Moscow

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Thanks again, Mr. Rosa.

Perhaps NSA saves money on text books by simply investing in smoke and
mirrors.  Hmmmm.

Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

" . . . wording plays a big part in understand[ing] the nature and meaning a
verse written two thousand years ago in a different language, and some
Bibles just have it plain wrong."

- Donovan Arnold (August 23, 2005)